I don’t know about you, but at 19 years old I was pretty much solely focused on college life. Sure I was part of some clubs, extracurriculars and maybe even working at times, but my side jobs and activities were nowhere near Abi Ann’s. This dynamic 19-year-old is about to blow up the pop/country scene.
Hailing from Texas and moving to LA at only 12, Abi has been recording since she started high school—her first EP came out before graduation—and now she is managing a balancing act of college, music, and the occasional tour. She’s even spending her summer racing around speedways to perform for their viewers.
Photo courtesy of Jody Domingue
Taking a bite out of the music scene, she is fresh off a tour with Kelly Clarkson, recently released some great music videos, and is working on a new album coming out in January 2017. Abi sat down with us to spit out some of her best foodie tips from the road and share some of her favorite food stops in NYC.
On what the food is like on tour:
Photo courtesy of @abimusic on Instagram
“Whenever I wasn’t stuffing my face from catering, my diet pretty much consisted of donuts.” Abi said every city they stopped in, she and her band—who are all food-obsessed—would try to find popular restaurants to try, but despite this great “real food,” they’d always find their donuts. Her favorite in NYC? Dominique Ansels’ Cronut. She even paid a $100 shipping fee to have the buzzworthy food item brought to her in LA.
On her cooking at home:
Photo by Hannah Cooper
When she’s off the road, she tries to cook as much as she can and make healthy meals to balance the awful-for-you road food. “It’s easy to get lazy,” she notes. Her go-to is chicken dipped in egg whites and crusted with almond flour and seasoning. She says it’s her healthier take on chicken fingers. She eats it with a mango curry-chili sauce from Whole Foods and some baked crispy Brussels sprouts with truffle salt and oil.
On her favorite guilty pleasure:
Photo courtesy of @Kim Ahlström on Flickr
She’s been obsessed with bacon lately, which may seem typical to most, but Abi says she used to be completely against it. When she started touring, her makeup person would make delicious cured bacon with brown sugar and put them in burritos, and Abi has never looked back.
And her favorite guilty pleasure fast food?
Photo courtesy of @chickfila on Instagram
Chick Fil-A. According to her guitarist, that’s how you secretly know she’s a southern girl at heart.
Her Favorite NYC Eats:
Favorite Place for Brunch: Bubby’s High Line
Photo courtesy of @eversweetbreeze on Instagram
“I had the granola and some of their pancakes and they were really good!”
Favorite Place for Lunch: Chalait
Photo courtesy of @tomchangeats on Instagram
“They have really good coffee, drinks, little sandwiches, and pastries.”
Favorite Place for Cocktails: Nobu
Photo courtesy of @vegasbees on Instagram
She goes here a ton in LA also and loves their sushi too.
Favorite Place for Ice Cream: Momofuku Milk Bar
Photo courtesy of @beautifuldetour on Instagram
She’s obsessed with this NYC hot spot restaurant, but is especially tempted by their tasty desserts.
Special Mention: by CHLOE
Photo courtesy of @the.spew on Instagram
She’s never been to the one in NYC, but the one by her is a must-visit.
Keep an eye out for Abi’s new album in the new year and stay tuned for many more exciting surprises she has in store for the next few months. For more information on Abi, check out her website and Instagram.